Left Behind by an Ancient Sea

Roughly 350 million years ago, much of what is now Nova Scotia was covered by a vast tropical ocean known as the Windsor Sea. As the ocean receded, it left behind some of the world’s largest deposits of gypsum. Gypsum is used in products like gyproc (wall board), dental plaster and drilling muds. The name comes from the Greek word gypsos, meaning chalk. The famous Milford mastodons were discovered in a gypsum mine at Carrolls Corner.